2012 – 2013 SEASON BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS by Neil Simon CONTENTS Directed by Steven Woolf 2 The 411 3 A/S/L & HTH 4 FYI 6 F2F 7 RBTL 8 B4U 10 IRL 12 SWDYT? MAJOR SPONSORS: Ann & Hugh Scott WELCOME! At The Rep, we know The desire to learn, insatiable when awakened, can that life moves fast— sometimes lie dormant until touched by the right teacher or okay, really fast. But the right experience. We at The Rep are grateful to have the we also know that opportunity to play a role supporting you as you awaken the some things are desire for learning in your students. worth slowing down Neil Simon is considered one of America’s leading for. We believe that live theatre is one of those playwrights for a good reason. He has the ability to tell pit stops worth making and are excited that you are going a story of specific people in a specific time and yet, also to stop by for a show. To help you get the most bang for make it timeless and universal. This is definitely the case in your buck, we have put together WU? @ THE REP—an Brighton Beach Memoirs. Though Eugene’s story is set in the IM guide that will give you everything you need to know to 1930s, his journey through adolescence is one to which your get at the top of your theatergoing game—fast. You’ll find students can relate. This play will remind them (and us) that character descriptions (A/S/L), a plot summary (FYI), family may drive you crazy but they are still your family and biographical information (F2F), historical context (B4U), in the end, they are your anchor as you navigate life. and other bits and pieces (HTH). Most importantly, we’ll have some ideas about what this all means IRL, anyway. It would be a good idea to take a minute on the bus to give your students these quick theatre etiquette reminders: • This show has an intermission; there will be time for bathroom breaks before the show and partway through. • The actors can hear the audience and appreciate the laughter, gasps and quiet attention to action. However, talking, moving around and eating is very distracting to others and can dampen the energy of what is The Teacher’s happening on stage. Lounge • Pictures, phone calls and texting are not allowed at any time during the performance. In an effort to make our educational materials accessible Live theatre won’t allow your students to take a passive to students and easy for educators to role—they must work with us to create the experience which incorporate into the classroom, our study takes the learning deeper. Our unique ability to fuse words guide is written in a student-oriented format. We hope and images onstage allows your students to explore new that you will circulate this guide among your students in ideas as well as excites their imaginations. We will do our the weeks preceding your visit to The Rep, encouraging part so your students will be stirred to understandings and them to browse it before and after class and as time self-awareness while delving into new and familiar worlds. allows, using it as a launch point for both pre- and post- You are doing your part by using The Rep to extend your performance discussions.You may also want to visit our intellectual and aesthetic curriculum. Thank you! website, www.repstl.org, for additional information including educational games, activity suggestions and behind-the-scenes information. Any materials, either from this guide or from our website may be reproduced for Marsha Coplon use in the classroom. As always, we appreciate Director of Education your making live theatre a part of your classroom experience and welcome your feedback and questions. Show Me Standards: CA 3, 5, 6; FA 2, 3, 4, 5; SS 2, 6 and Illinois Learning Standards: 1, 2, 5, 15, 16, 18, 25, 27. EUGENE JEROME is a precocious 14-year- BLANCHE MORTON is Kate’s younger, old with lots of imagination who dreams of widowed sister who moved in with the playing major league baseball and becoming Jeromes when she couldn’t financially a writer. support her own family alone STANLEY JEROME is Eugene’s 18-year-old LAURIE MORTON is Blanche’s 13-year-old brother who passes on his wisdom to Eugene daughter who is treated delicately due to a and works to help support the family. heart condition. KATE JEROME is Eugene's mother who NORA MORTON is Blanche’s beautiful plays the strong Jewish matriarch role of 16-year-old daughter who dreams of taking care of everyone because it’s her becoming a professional dancer. family duty. JACK JEROME is Eugene's sensible father who works tirelessly to make sure his family and his sister-in-law’s family are provided for. MEMOIRS: an account of one’s personal life TUBERCULOSIS: an infectious disease that and experiences; an autobiography. usually affects the lungs and is lethal in many cases. DIPTHERIA: an infectious upper respiratory tract illness that forms a false membrane in BOARDWALK: a raised walkway made of the air passages, especially the throat. boards or planks, often built along a beach. DAPPER: neat and elegant; usually refers to SALOON: a place for the sale and men. consumption of alcoholic drinks; a bar. BOARDER: someone who pays to stay in a private room temporarily and is supplied with daily meals. 3 SPOILER ALERT! THE ENTIRE PLAY takes place at the SOON AFTER, an excited 16-year-old Nora Jerome family home in Brighton Beach, a rushes in and says she’s been offered the lower middle-class ocean-side neighborhood chance to audition for a dancing role in a in Brooklyn, New York, that is mostly Broadway show, but she needs a parent’s inhabited by Jewish, Irish and German permission first. Blanche, unsure of what to populations. Act I takes place around 6:30 in do, tells Nora to wait until her Uncle Jack is the evening in September 1937 during the home for them to discuss the matter. Nora is Great Depression; Act II takes place a week surprised and resentful her mother doesn’t later, again at 6:30 in the evening. take the assertive parental role. THE FIRST SCENE opens with 14-year- LATER ON, Eugene’s 18-year-old brother old Eugene Jerome throwing a ball against Stanley comes home and confesses to the house, playing an imaginary game of Eugene that he got in trouble with his boss baseball. Inside, his mother Kate is setting for sticking up for an African-American the table for dinner, while his aunt Blanche employee who was being unfairly punished who, along with daughters Laurie and Nora for a mistake someone else made. The boss is live with the Jeromes, is sewing. Because demanding a written apology from Stanley Eugene is giving his aunt a headache, Kate or else he is fired. Although Stanley knows tells him to stop, and he goes up to his his family can’t afford for him to get fired, room to journal. Here, he starts making he feels strongly that he shouldn’t apologize confessions to the audience. The first is based on principles. He tells Eugene he that he dreams of playing for the Yankees plans to talk to their dad about the ethical or becoming a writer. The second is that dilemma. he resents the fact he is always being told JACK THEN comes home where he confesses to run errands, while everyone coddles his to Kate that the party favors company where 13-year-old cousin Laurie because she has he works part-time is going out of business. a heart flutter. He explains to the audience Worried he won’t be able to put food on that Blanche, Laurie and Nora moved in with table, Kate reassures him that something is his family three-and-a-half years ago after bound to come up. During the dinner, the Blanche’s husband died of cancer, and she family hears on the radio that Hitler has couldn't support the family alone. moved into the Austria, and they discuss the DOWNSTAIRS, KATE BEGS Blanche possibility of war. Jack knows it’s inevitable, to stop sewing as it’s worsening her poor and they worry about the safety of their eyesight, but Blanche is trying hard to make relatives in Europe, and whether or not enough money so that they don’t have to they’d be able to house them if they escape rely on Kate’s husband Jack to support all to America. of them. Kate insists that everything’s fine. BECAUSE OF ALL the current stress, Although space and money are tight and Blanche is hesitant to bring up Nora’s the atmosphere is stressful, it’s obvious audition with Jack, so Nora brings it up there’s a great sense of family obligation and herself. Jack says he won’t give her a yes closeness in the household. or no, but suggests they go for a walk where he’ll offer advice. In the meantime, Eugene speaks to Stanley upstairs about his drunk and is currently in the hospital. Kate developing sexual urges and guilty lust for says it’s no surprise, which angers Blanche Nora. Stanley tells him it’s perfectly normal and starts a huge fight, in which Kate finally but to not act on his feelings for Nora for admits that she resents having to take care obvious reasons.